By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

CHICAGO - It was just your routine, 21-run, 30-hit, seven-homer, 10-inning baseball game.

"It's always wacky at Wrigley, but the last few days have been especially wacky," Reds closer Danny Graves said.

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Sunday's game

The Reds' 11-10 victory Sunday over the Chicago Cubs before a crowd of 39,624 at Wrigley Field registered about an 8.2 on the Wacky Scale.

How's this for wacky? The Reds won it because defensive specialist Juan Castro hit a two-run triple in the 10th.

How's this for wacky? Adam Dunn hit a ball in the seventh that he thought was a pop-up. It ended up going out of the park to center field - a shot of 440 feet. "Thanks, wind," Dunn said.

How's this for wacky? It was 76 degrees at game time. In April at Wrigley, it's more likely to be 36. The balmy temperatures were nice. But the wind - a steady 20 mph with gusts of 30 - was a huge factor in the game. Every fly ball was an adventure.

"You look at the scoreboard and you could see what kind of game it was," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "It was back and forth all day. So many things happened in the game. But, if you had to pick out one thing, it was Castro's hit."

The Reds led 3-0, 5-3, 9-8 and 11-9. The victory assured the team of at least a .500 road trip and pushed its record to 7-4.

But when it was over, the players and Miley seemed as relieved as happy.

"These games have been very entertaining for the fans," Dunn said. "For us, it makes it worthwhile when you win."

The Reds' 10th was typical of the day - wacky.

Ryan Freel started the inning with a routine fly ball right at right fielder Sammy Sosa. The problem was Sosa didn't see the ball.

Freel, who also was playing right field, could sympathize.

"The sun was so bad," Freel said. "You couldn't see a thing. Glasses didn't help at all.

"That was a key play. They get me out there and it's a different game."

Jason LaRue followed and popped out trying to bunt Freel over. Freel then stole second. Pinch-hitter Javier Valentin walked.

That brought up Castro, who had come in to play third base for Freel, who moved to right field to replace Wily Mo Pena.

The move was a defensive one. But Castro came through at the plate, ripping a ball to left-center for a triple. After D'Angelo Jimenez struck out and Barry Larkin walked, Ken Griffey Jr. lofted a fly ball to left. Moises Alou broke in on it, then went back and made the catch falling down.

"After Alou made that great catch, you thought it might be their day," Graves said.

Graves, of course, lost Friday's game by giving up back-to-back homers in the ninth to Sosa and Alou.

Corey Patterson led off the 10th with a double to left. That brought up Sosa, followed by Alou.

Graves got Sosa, who had hit home runs in his first two at-bats, to ground out. Graves struck out Alou, but the ball got away from catcher LaRue for a passed ball. Alou reached, and it was first and third with one out.

More bad karma.

But Graves got Aramis Ramirez and Derrek Lee on flyouts to end it - Patterson scored on Ramirez's ball - for his sixth save in seven tries.

It was the third one-run game in three days at Wrigley. Saturday, the wind was blowing in and the teams had to scratch for five runs.

Sunday, they had scored that many by the second inning.

Dunn got the Reds started with a three-run homer in the first off Greg Maddux. It was Dunn's sixth of the year, but the first with runners on.

"It's kind of sad to see my streak end," Dunn said. "I was going to be the first guy to 40-40 - 40 homers, 40 RBI."

The Cubs scored single runs in the first, second and third against starter Paul Wilson.

Freel got the Reds the lead back with a two-run homer in the fifth.

Wilson ran into some tough luck in the fifth. Alou led off with a home run. The Cubs then loaded the bases with a pair of hits and a hit-by-pitch.

Maddux hit a possible double play ball to Barry Larkin at short, but second baseman Jimenez couldn't turn it, and a run scored.

Todd Walked followed with a ball that hit the base of the wall in right - a ball that Pena could have caught.

That made it 7-5.

But the Reds kept on hitting.

Austin Kearns hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the sixth. Dunn hit the two-run, wind-aided shot in the seventh.

Todd Jones pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings for his first victory as a Red as the bullpen held - if that's the right word - the Cubs to three runs over 5 1/3 innings, and gave the offense a chance to win. "It was a little bit crazy," Castro said. "I was able to come up with a hit when we needed it."

Cincinnati	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
DJimenez 2b	6	0	0	0	0	2	.279
Larkin ss	5	1	1	0	1	0	.156
Griffey Jr. cf	6	0	2	0	0	1	.250
Casey 1b	3	2	1	0	2	0	.390
Dunn lf	5	2	2	5	0	2	.400
Freel 3b-rf	5	2	3	1	0	0	.302
LaRue c	4	2	1	0	0	0	.148
WPena rf	4	0	1	1	0	2	.357
PNorton p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
TJones p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Valentin ph	0	1	0	0	1	0	.000
Graves p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
PWilson p	2	0	0	0	0	1	.167
Riedling p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Kearns ph	1	1	1	2	0	0	.188
Van Poppel p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
JCastro 3b	2	0	1	2	0	0	.231
Totals	43	11	13	11	4	8

Chicago	AB	R	H	BI	BB	SO	Avg.
TWalker 2b	5	1	2	2	1	0	.343
Borowski p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
CPatterson cf	6	1	2	1	0	0	.261
SSosa rf	6	2	2	2	0	0	.319
Alou lf	5	2	3	1	1	1	.333
ARamirez 3b	5	1	2	2	0	1	.365
DeLee 1b	5	0	0	0	1	1	.244
ASGonzalez ss	4	2	2	0	0	0	.200
Hawkins p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Farnsworth p	0	0	0	0	0	0	---
Macias ph-2b	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Bako c	3	0	2	1	0	0	.143
Hollandsworth ph	1	0	1	0	0	0	.267
Barrett c	0	0	0	0	0	0	.313
Maddux p	2	1	0	1	0	0	.000
Mercker p	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
REMartinez ss	2	0	1	0	0	0	.231
Totals	45	10	17	10	3	3

Cincinnati	300	202	200	2	-11	13	0
Chicago	111	041	100	1	-10	17	0

LOB-Cincinnati 7, Chicago 11. 2B-Larkin (1), TWalker 2 (5), CPatterson 2 (4), Alou (5), ARamirez (8). 3B-WPena (1), JCastro (1), Alou (1). HR-Kearns (2), off Maddux; Alou (6), off PWilson; Freel (1), off Maddux; SSosa 2 (4), off PWilson 2; Dunn 2 (7), off Mercker, Maddux. RBIs-Dunn 5 (10), Freel (3), WPena (4), Kearns 2 (4), JCastro 2 (4), TWalker 2 (7), CPatterson (3), SSosa 2 (8), Alou (12), ARamirez 2 (13), Bako (1), Maddux (2). SB-Larkin (1), Griffey Jr. (1), Freel 2 (3). S-Maddux. SF-ARamirez.

Cincinnati	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
PWilson	4 2/3	11	7	6	2	2	90	3.32
Riedling	1/3	0	0	0	0	0	1	1.59
Van Poppel	1 2/3	2	1	1	0	0	26	5.40
PNorton BS, 1	0	1	1	1	1	0	7	11.25
TJones W, 1-0	2 1/3	2	0	0	0	0	30	2.57
Graves S, 6	1	1	1	0	0	1	14	4.50

Chicago	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	NP	ERA
Maddux	6	8	7	7	2	5	82	8.62
Mercker BS, 1	1/3	2	2	2	0	0	8	4.05
Hawkins	1 2/3	1	0	0	0	1	15	0.00
Farnsworth	1	0	0	0	0	1	10	7.11
Borowski L, 1-1	1	2	2	2	2	1	26	9.00

PNorton pitched to 2 batters in the 7th.

Inherited runners-scored-TJones 1-0, Riedling 1-0.

HBP-by Maddux (LaRue), by PWilson (Bako). WP-PWilson. PB-LaRue 2.

Umpires-Home, Mike Reilly; First, Chuck Meriwether; Second, C.B. Bucknor; Third, Eric Cooper.

T-3:13. A-39,624 (39,345).